creative uses for a door

The Nester recently had a great post on how to paint a door up all fancy-like and hang it on your wall. Brilliant! So, as I've been on quite the idea-stealing kick lately, I thought I'd show you an interesting way to use a door too. Some of you may have caught this from my Evolution blog, but I thought I'd break it down for you a bit.


I had a bare wall in my family room that needed something big and bold. While I am no fan of RC Willey's furniture--they have GREAT accessories--so I went there. I found a big fabric-wrapped canvas that I really liked. However, it was still about 2 feet too small all around, and about $200 more than I wanted to spend. SO, I took a trip to the craft store to pick up a canvas of my own. Being an occasional water colorist, I knew a canvas as big as I wanted would be spendy. Yup. $100 --and still a little too small. So then I went to my favorite home furnishings store of all......


Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse!


That place has so many neat things that can be applied in different ways than what they were meant (truck plate for a fireplace surround, copper pipes for drapery rods, door stops for coat hooks--pinch me :)!)

Anyway--I headed straight for the door aisle and found me a hollow core beauty for $18. Huzzah! Now it's your turn----------


Make sure your door isn't drilled for a doorknob and that it's flat (no panels). Then give it a big kiss and take it home. Stop by the fabric store on the way and buy yourself 3 yards of whatever floats your boat, and hopefully is on sale.


I (and by I, I mean-- my husband) used a circular saw to take about 18 inches off the bottom of the door. Since it would be displayed right next to an entry, I didn't want the exact height to give away what was under the fabric! see the height comparison of the two?


Next, lay out your fabric, making sure it's straight. An allover pattern vs. something with lines to worry about keeping too straight is your best bet. Pull out your handy dandy staple gun and get to work: see-- you can even use the end of the fabric with Waverly printed all over it!



If it doesn't look like it's pulled quite tight enough, just pull it a little tighter and put some more staples in. You can really make a mess back here!: such quality craftsmanship!



Finally, lean it up against your wall, give it another big kiss, and call yourself a rockstar! I would love to see three of these in different but complimentary fabrics against a long expanse of wall. You could also poke tacks in your new door and use it to display photos or as a bulletin board. Look how it's owning this stretch of wall!!! Don't you want to go make one now?


*Safety Mom says: If your young child tries to hide behind leaning door in a game of hide and seek, it damages no people or flooring when it falls over! Kid tested on site.


*And I was also very flattered that Infarrantly Creative used a play room I had designed for my pediatrician's children as a jump off point for her own play room. We spent some time emailing back and forth with the details of painting vertical stripes on your wall, and I must have communicated better than I thought 'cause that girl really nailed it! Way to go Beckie!